Today Wachovia is going down. One more of the top ten banks in the nation, in the dust bin with all the others -- Bear Stearns, Lehman, Washington Mutual, Countrywide. I get this sinking feeling that, as bad as I think things are, they are actually worse than that.

Which is… Read full post »

On my way to work today, I noticed an odd thing – no American flags flying. Not a single one anywhere. I live in rural Mississippi, the Bible belt, home to some of the most conservative people anywhere in the United States. So it was genuinely surprising to see, in a… Read full post »

In the morning, we got a call from Lara Gold, the wife of one of my partners in our St. Bernard medical practice. After many despairing hours she had gotten in touch with her husband, Tom Gold, who had made it through the storm alive. He told her what had happened… Read full post »

I'm the type of guy the Republicans could have if they really tried. I live in the South, the reddest of Red Country. I am Catholic and anti-abortion, like low taxes, and tend to agree with Jefferson's statement: "That government is best that governs least." I don't trust political do-gooders, and… Read full post »

Late morning. It had to be late; we hadn't gotten to Baton Rouge until 3 am. Following the pattern of the entire week, the news on Thursday was worse than the day before, just as the day before had been worse than the day before that. The Morial Convention Center was… Read full post »

I’m not having nightmares these days, but I’m not exactly sure why not.

When it comes to traumatic events like Katrina, usually everything is fine on a day-to-day basis until there is a trigger, and then it all comes back. Saturday, I felt just such a trigger.

I was driving home in the… Read full post »

 We devoted Wednesday morning to getting our smashed car window repaired. The dealership was busy, and we waited several hours for the mechanics to finish the job. In the waiting room all the televisions were tuned to Katrina coverage. Unfortunately, as the other customers watched they talked ab… Read full post »

Tuesday was the beginning of the nightmare. Monday was expected — a terrible storm landed and there was great damage. Tuesday was supposed to be the Day After, the day to hear about heroic rescues, damage assessments, and assurances that we were back on the path to normality. That is not… Read full post »

 

This whole town does look like whatever hope becomes after it begins to weary a little, then weary a little more. But hope deferred is still hope. I love this town. I think sometimes of going into the ground here as a last wild gesture of love —… Read full post »

This is the third of my series of eight posts on my experiences with Hurricane Katrina. Please see the August 26th post to start from the beginning.

Six thirty AM I was awakened by the sound of hammering. George and Juan were back, boarding up the window directly above the… Read full post »

This is a continuation of my personal account of my experiences with Hurricane Katrina. To see the first entry in this series, please see yesterday's post.

On the morning of the 27th things were rapidly changing, but I was not yet aware of that. The first item in my Saturday… Read full post »

One year after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, I commemorated the occasion by writing a history of my personal experiences immediately before and following the storm. I have revised this account for Katrina's third anniversary, and am publishing it here.

For the next 7 days, I will publish m… Read full post »

On Tuesday, July 29, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback issued the following public statement regarding the Beijing Olympics:

The Chinese government has put in place a system to spy on and gather information about every guest at hotels where Olympic visitors are staying. This means journalists, athletes' f… Read full post »

If you have to die, you might as well die at a time convenient for your doctor.

I was at home in my usual state when I am on call -- in my ottoman in front of the TV, my cell phone on the right armrest, beeper on the left. Since… Read full post »

Sometimes, I imagine an alternative universe where nice things happen. Not a perfect world; I am not naive enough to dream of a world without poverty and greed and disease. Just a world where people do little things within their power to make difficult situations a bit better. Like… Read full post »

While America relaxed through the Independence Day weekend, the year's most important health care issue sat stalled in Congress, way past due. It is no longer five minutes to midnight, it is past midnight, and the contestto fix Medicare is now in overtime. The issue is an automatic budget/…

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In eight years, the Bush adminsistration has savaged every one of amendments in the Bill of Rights except two: Freedom to bear arms, and the right to remain silent.

I think that tells us all we need to know about what they expect to be doing after they… Read full post »

A National Public Radio essay this morning alerted me that today is Loving Day. I had never heard of it. Loving Day, it turns out, commemorates the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia.  Mildred and Richard Loving were an interracial couple jailed in the 1960s for violating/… Read full post »

Recently I saw a patient at my medical practice for a workplace accident. The patient was a follow-up from a visit 3 weeks prior, a visit in which I had ordered an MRI scan. The scan had to be pre-approved by insurance, but it was, and we/… Read full post »